Ive been looking around for an oldish full suss bike in a little size (16" approx) and some interesting stuff comes up in America, but most if not all say in the adverts that they will only post to the US by UPS.

My question... Why? What difference dose it make for the seller? They are going to pack the bike and get it to the UPS depot so why not just let the bike come over here?

Eric, there are a few reasons why I personally won't ship overseas anymore. The amount of paperwork involved on this end is one of them (it's a massive amount of crap we have to go through on this end), as well as the numerous ways to be completely scammed when dealing with international sales. The taxes and surcharges you deal with in shipping is cause for many to want to commit fraud when describing the item to be shipped, which makes for one of the biggest reasons to not ship a bike internationallyâ€”dealing with insurance in an international claim.

I know too many people who have lost BIG in shipping expensive items overseas, and claims almost never seem to work out in favor of the shipper.

It's a matter of removing a large amount of hassle to sell an item. If I can sell a bike here for $500 and take 60 seconds to set up shipping, why would I want to sell that same bike for $500 internationally and have to deal with the extra shipping effort and legwork?

There are probably a lot more legit reasons for us over here to be resistent to international shipping. If it weren't such a pain (see 9/11 for more reasons why that is), you'd probably see it happen more often.

It is really hard when you are desperately after an item, but seller won't ship to you because you're at some kind of location. Too bad some fraudulent ruin it for a huge majority. So far I were always very cooperative in arranging shipping and such, as I do understand there is some additional work for the seller. At the end the seller always concluded he were very happy with the how it went, also as he saw I were very happy my item.

Doug,

You say why should I sell for $500 abroad when I van get $500 not abroad. I think often people form UK, Europe or Japan are willing pay more than what people in the US are willing to pay.

Honestly I do not understand what you are trying to say in the last part of your story.

Elev12k is true to a certain extent purely based on the exchange rate (oh how I miss the days of 1.92 dollars to the pound!). I've changed peoples minds more than a few times just by continuous mailing ..although as an occasional seller myself I do appreciate the hassle

I don't necessarily think it's usually a matter of money for sellersâ€”but I could be wrong. I know many will happily sell overseas without concern, but for the majority, convenience, costs, insurance, time, hassle and the fact that no US shipping companies make it very simple to ship things (especially LAGRE things) internationally makes it VERY unappealing from this side.

I sold my lime green Turner XCE to a guy who lived by Stonehendge a couple of years ago, and the labor involved with getting that bike to the guy (using FedEx) was insane. Triplicate signed forms, different carrier vans, ridiculous fees and a website that was less than cooperative had me running around for two days with a bike box in my car trying to get it picked up. If international shipments are not something you do a lot of, they are a real pain.

Maybe some other guys from the US can lend some more insight, as well.

only this week i had an item delivered from the US
within 7 days , but this was only a small item by letter post

other stuff same size has taken about 2 months ( customs )

one of the guys in the US i used to buy off regularly has just stopped selling to the UK due to shipments being lost , and the time delay on some items due to customs plus the hassle he gets off customers for the delay
so you can understand it really , especially as you say the shipping arrangements can be a nightmare

had a similar problem when i bought the FRS from germany , it took forever for the poor guy to sort out the shipping , due to the size of the parcel , some couriers would not take it because it was too large ??

Recently I bought my e-stay from German eBay. Seller listed as available for Germany only. I ignored I provided him what I had to pay for shipping (actual shipping + a few additional euros) and made the payment using IBAN/SWIFT. Free for both. This is initiated by very well paid people in Brussels to smoothen transactions, so I think it is a good thing to use it than. I paid within an eyeblink.

Furthermore I also contacted him in his own language. I doubt whether this is necessary, but to make things more convenient for seller. At the end he told me he would like to do business with me again. Great.

I have never had probs with international shipping,
I bought a frame from the US, $123 postage USPS but you have to take in their overheads in fuel and getting the frame boxed and then to the nearest postal/courier office, that is acceptable to me and should be costed in on top of postage fees

Just this week bought another frame and only got charged $45 shipping I bunged him $20 extra as thanks for searching around for the best shipping quote.

Pair of MX-Z decals I bought last week took 2 days to come by USPS, they had to put them in an A4 sized shallow box so they didn't get lost, costs a bit more in postage but its gotta be done if you want it to get to its destination safe

I think the problem lies mainly in the trust factor, Its hard to trust the shipping company it'll get there safe , its hard to trust any overseas ebayer when you hear such bad stories of being conned and its hard to trust the eBay/Paypal system that never seems to be on the sellers side when it goes wrong

i think its mainly the trust factor and some cold war/ego issues as well. many people in the usa still think the rest of the world has a corrupt and inefficient postal system where things are opened or stolen at will. they don't expect stuff will actually get there and don't want to deal with the resulting hassles. also, international wires, customs forums and other logistical stuff is probably too much for our oprah and mtv viewing population to handle. besides buyers often complicate things by asking me to declare a lower value or mislabel something to avoid duty.

personally, i'm willing to ship overseas though i don't usually advertise it that way unless i specifically know it will do well in that market. for example, a couple years ago i was sending assloads of vintage patagonia outerware to japan. why? they like the absurd 80's 90's colors. =) in that case, i made it clear buyers were responsible for all fees and assumed full risk. did not have a single problem or complaint.

in most cases though the extra time needed to proces and send is not outweighed by the possibility of a higher price sale. this is not an issue if the receiver is a friend or at least someone i'm familiar with.

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